Follow Me Unto Eternity
by Lyo1
Summary: Somethings you just never expect in Hogsmeade


Eh....Name is subject to change. Wrote this fic out of boredom/writer's block on evolution. It may or may not be updated...^^ Reviews are helpful. Leanings on Draco/Ginny pairing. ^^   
  
  
Follow Me Unto Eternity  
By [Lyo][1]  
Legalese: I own *NOTHING*...well...I did make up some random servants, but other than that. Nothing. Nada. Everything belongs to J.K.Rowling, and none of it to me.   
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Virginia Weasley had been to Hogsmeade many times before. She came often with the third years to spend the sickles and knuts in her pockets, then again the year after. She'd been here many times with her father on Ministry business. And she'd seen the sights. Nothing surprised her any more about the town, not the gag shop. Nothing. 

She'd heard the rumors of the Dark Lord, seen the papers of the homes that had been raided, the lists of new Death Eaters as the old ones were taken away to Azkaban She'd watched the Syltherin house come to the city every term, their numbers dwindling more and more as the list of new Death Eaters grew until only six were left in her year. Ron's class had half that. The years below them had more and more until you reached the what would be Second Years. They'd entered the school when war was at full swing. 

But in the years she'd been coming here she'd never seen frantic house-elves, three in number, running like bats of hell. Their wide, goggling eyes were accented by cascades of tears, the hems of their gunny-sacks and pillow cases too damp to take any more. People moved away from them, turning their noses up. And for a moment, she was compelled to as well. 

Then Hermione's campaign three years prior came to mind, and she shook her head. The older girl wouldn't understand if she didn't help them, not that Ginny had to tell them, but Dobby could find out and tell Harry, who in turn might say something to Ron, who would make a comment to Hermione about her old campaign, and well, it really wasn't worth it. 

"Can I help you?" She dropped close to the ground, smiling a little to the elves, trying her best not to look horribly curious as to why they were in such a commotion. 

"You help Verati?" The smallest came forward, bent a little in age, brown eyes clear of tears immediately. 

She nodded, "I can help a bit. But I'm only still at Hogwarts, so--" 

There was a outburst of chatter between the three elves, triumph on their faces. They talked too fast for her to comprehend, but it didn't quite matter at that point as she stood up, glancing around the street. No one was looking at her, at the elves. And suddenly she realized why this seemed so strange. No master. 

A hand surrounded the hem of her robe, pulling her down again, Verati grinning in the slightly creepy way cheshire smile shared by most house elves, "You take us to Hoggywarts, yes? You help Master to the Hoggywarts, to see the Dumpydwarf?" 

Ginny blinked, "I can't take you there, no--" 

"Carriage drive, you direct. Onto Hoggywarts, yes?" 

She blinked, looking around for her father or brothers, any one that could get her out of this mess. *This* was why no one bothered to help out distressed house elves, "My father's waiting for m--" 

In a blur, they were pulling her down the streets and out of Hogsmeade. There wasn't time to cry out. House elves, little they were, were incredibly strong and fast, though she suspected some magic may have been involved. But they didn't give her time to answer as she found herself dumped in the mud, the youngest of the three elves disappearing into the brush. 

"Hoggwarts you take us! Dumpydwarf save the master!" The other two sang, doing odd little dances in the mud. She looked around, wondering where she'd left her wand. The Ministry had dropped their ban on underage wizards and magic some time before, well, any one who had completed their fourth year up. Again, this was due to the war. 

Her amber-brown eyes stopped a moment, lurking through the forest and brush. The Death Eaters could be anywhere, and here she was like an idiot, separated from her father and from Ron, Charlie, and the twins. And these elves weren't even concerned, going on with their little dance of joy. 

She looked at them again, more careful than before. The two dancing appeared older than Dobby or Winky, one much older than the other. The younger seemed female, wearing a tattered and old pillow case of warm flannel, red satin trimming it. There was an ugly, purple-brown mark over one of her bared arms. The older, in a rather barren and dull sack from potatoes, limped as he danced. 

When the youngest of them reappeared, Ginny began to feel sick. This one also wore a pillow case, white satin long covered in grit and grime. But this one bore a menagerie of bruises and cuts over her visible body. House elves may have enjoyed slavery, but that did not mean that they enjoyed abuse. 

The bushes moved then, and she jumped back, wishing for her wand. Was this the master....No, she decided. The house elves did not change, just sort of shrugging this off as a figure, swathed in robes so nothing was visible, the eyes and mouth hidden by a silk cloth of ebony, stood there. "What is your name, friend-stranger?" The voice of this thing was light and soft, very feminine. Gentle, but very gaurded. Uneasy. 

"Ginny Weasley. And I am not your friend. I would not help one who treats their servants like that." She hissed it back. 

"Master do this to us not, Ginny! Old Master mean us bad things, but Master now be nice." The middle elf proclaimed in an almost visible fit of anger. 

The thing nodded her head, "Yes, Friend-Ginny. Master's Master was a cruel man, but we are in need of you." The head turned back a moment, "The Bad Men came and they take away the Master's Master. And they harm the Mistress, and she send us out to save Master. But the moving box is not good. The rain came down, and Sick came with it. And now the Sick has the Master." 

Ginny blinked, shaking her head, "And you need me to take you to Hogwarts." 

"Yes, to Hoggywarts to the Dumpy Dwarf and his Healer who drives away the Sick. Master no longer knows words to give me to drive the moving box." Hands reached out to hers, voice sincere. "I have no Magics to save the Master, but I know where this Sick will take him." 

"Tella want Master live!" The young elf cried, throwing her bruised arms about the legs of the red-haired girl. Then the other elf did it, then the next. And she was pinned there, speechless yet thankful that the covered arms were not amoung those around her. 

"Why do you need me? Why not an adult that could Apparate you there?" 

"No adults will help Master. They want the Sick to welcome the Death into his body." Her words wrung loud and clear with an earnest, hand reaching out to Ginny. A rag fell away, revealing a carmel-coloured arm with painted black nails. She tried to step back from that hand, staring at it until she realized that the black nails weren't painted. A shiver of terror ran up her spine. 

"What are you?" 

"She not bad!" The littlest elf was sobbing into Ginny's leg. "She friend to us; she be good friend to you if you help Master." 

There was a nod from the...thing, dropping down onto its knees, "I mean no harm to Friend-Ginny. Not human, yes, but not bad. I do only what Master command and the Sick make him so weak. You not let the Death carry him off. Please stop the Death." Her hand slid into her pocket, pulling out a chained necklace, a heavy silver pendant hanging from it. "Take this to pay for the service against the Sick. Take us to Hoggywarts." 

Ginny frowned, shoving the necklace into her pocket at the thing rose, slipping into the darkness with a beckoning hand. The house elves released her long enough to push her through the brush, whispering again to themselves. There was a large oak tree in the middle of the brush, light streaming down through the turning leaves. 

The long, dark, mud splattered robes came to a carriage that looked like it had seen a war and a half. The thing motioned with her visible hand as she pulled the door off. There was a moment before Ginny let her feet carry her there, body quivering slightly. When she reached the door, her stomach turned and a scream stopped in her throat. 

On the padded seat lay a boy, his hair almost gray from the sweat seeping from his body. Long, fine robes of satin hung off his frame, torn and slightly muddy themselves. His face was whiter than milk, though the cheeks were like great beacons of the brightest red. He was breathing in short, shallow breaths, occasionally coughing. His eyes were closed. He was pathetic. 

And she knew him. Draco Malfoy, the most insufferable of the insufferable. Part of her longed to laugh and slam the door, but that part was dwarfed by the greater sense of panic that fled through her veins. He was very, very ill, that was quite apparent, his servants quite beside themselves. And they were alone, wishing, no, needing to get there and as quickly as possible. 

He opened his eyes weakly, looking at her with a sort of dazed look. And his lips moved into a sneer for but a moment. Then he collapsed again into a coughing fit. The house elves clamored into the carriage car, swinging the door closed behind them. 

"You help Master?" The thing's head moved to her. 

Ginny nodded once, "I can't let him die." 

"Thank you, Ginny-Friend." It climbed into the driver's seat, patting the place beside her before gripping the reins. The carriage sprang to life, invisible forces pulling it up into a starting position, "Easy this is. You take them and you think where you wish going." 

The leather was warm in her hands as they lurched into movement, moving closer and closer to the school, "How did Draco get that way?" 

For moments, there was no response, the hands clasped tightly in the middle of the muddy robes, "Master wanted to get to Hoggywarts, to be safe from the Bad Men instead of going to the Evil. And I know only the way to the Evil. I hear him, but not the Hoggywarts. So he drive us there when lights die. And it get cold, and then it get wet. And he start with the cough, then the Skin Heat...and then he has the Sick." 

"And the carriage only takes you to where you have been before?" 

"Yes. Mistress take it many times to the Good Place." There was a tinge of sadness to the thing's voice, "Mistress is gone now...Mistress should be gone. Too much blood on the floor...Too much." 

"What about Lucius Malfoy? What happened to him?" She bit her lips, curious. 

"Bad Men take him. They go to take Master, but Mistress distract them and she then she say, "Verati! Take your girls to the stables! Take my carriage." She tell me "Rise up until Master say to go down" and I rise. And I here now." 

"Why did the Death Eaters do this? Did the Malfoy's--" 

"Was not the Evil's Men. Was the Bad Men that come with their wands and their fancy titles, that come to the books and the spells and be sure Master's Master not get away." 

Ginny blinked, letting the silence fall between them as they sped closer and closer to the school. _Evil Men..._ If the Death Eaters were not the ones that destroyed the Malfoy's, taking away Lucius and possibly killing Narcissa, who else would bother. From the way she spoke, these Bad Men were new to her, the thing. 

Her free hand strayed down to the heavy pendant in her pocket, pulling it out slowly. It was rather plain, vines and thorns wrapped around an "M" carved into the surface, worn down by anxious rubbing. The back was plain, the words that had once been there worn away from age. Perhaps at one time it had been beautiful. Perhaps...now it was plain and rather ugly. Maybe she could take it to Hermione when the school started again. 

"Wait, does Dumbledore know you're coming? What if he doesn't want Dra--" 

"Verati sent owl. Verati reads and writes your Speak." The house elf chimed from deep inside the carriage. She nodded once, turning back to the road again. Creepy little servants.   
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"Yes, take her to the baths and get her cleaned up. We'll deal with her later." The female professor nodded, leading away the last person who might be able to make sense of this whole thing for her. And Ginny sunk down into a chair, sighing a little. 

"I must commend you, Miss Weasley, for your excellent character. You could have left Draco and his associates to die in the woods. It's a dangerous time to be seen with a Death Eater's son." Dumbledore smiled warmly, adjusting his glasses. 

She said nothing for a moment, "Will he be all right?" 

Dumbledore nodded, "Pneumonia's nothing a good bit of rest and a daily potion from Madame Pomfrey will take care of him right quick. I think I'll shall have Hagrid take you down to the village when he has put Draco's things in his room." 

"Is Draco still going to Hogwarts?" Ginny blinked, biting her lip. There had always been talk that he was a born Death Eater. He was the recruiting officer or something. 

The old man smiles, eyes twinkling behind the half-moon glasses, "He's been paid for, and he's a prefect. Of course he'll be at Hogwarts this year." 

"But..." 

"Thank you again, Miss Weasley. Given Mr. Malfoy's past with your brother, I know this was not easy for you." He handed her a piece of parchment, motioning to the door. "I will see you again at the beginning of the term, hopefully under decidedly better circumstances. Now, run along. We need to get you back." 

She nodded, slipping out into the hallways. But she didn't go to the Slytherin house entrance. Instead she shuffled along to the sick ward, poking her head in cautiously. Draco was on a bed, Snape by his side while Pomfrey fumbled with this and that. "...can't believe they'd be so stupid. The father, I understand. But Narcissa? She would never...And the boy! He's scarcely ready to be an adult." 

Snape nodded to her, looking at the ground, "The rise of the Dark Lord has perverted their sense of right and wrong." Then his black eyes turned up to Ginny, unreadable for a moment, "May we help you, Miss Weasley?" 

"I...I wanted...to check on Draco." She bit her lip a little, stepping into the room. Draco groaned a little from the bed, squirming. Pomfrey shook her head. He looked so pale lying there, so close to death. The meanness that had so often lines his mouth was gone, the annoying little smirk faded away. 

She moved to his bedside without meaning to, picking up a cloth and running it over his face. His pale flesh was so warm, too warm. Snape stood then, moving to the door, "I'll see about getting you back to Hogsmeade." 

And Pomfrey smiled at her, pulling her back a little, "Go on with Snape. Can't have you catching this cold either. He'll be back to his old self by the time the term starts." 

Her smile was sad as she smiled, going to the door, "That's a shame. He's so nice when he's half dead." 

"All men are." 

She nodded once, following Snape down the twisting corridors. She really shouldn't have wanted to be back in school already. There was something sick and quite wrong about this desire.   
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The man laughed as he watched the woman crawl from the ditch, her face and hands streaked with blood. Anguished. But alive. 

"Should I send the others after her?" 

"She's of no concern to us." He folded his robes neatly, running his hand through the servant's thick black hair, "Get the boy and bring him here." 

"The girl that he traveled with?" 

"Kill her."   
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Um....yeah. This sucks. I should just go back to Evoslash, but this has been bouncing in my head for a bit, so...yeah. ^^ R/R PLEASE Pretendido aos

   [1]: mailto:lyodpdl@yahoo.com



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